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shut up
Read more in this article about some frequently asked questions and fun facts related to our definitions.
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How Shut Up Became So Mean
Shut up began as a verb phrase meaning "to secure something away in a receptacle." By the 1500s, it meant "to confine someone," "to close a door or window," or "to bring to a conclusion." Creepy ... Then Jane Austen and Charles Dickens came around, and they used it a bit more rudely.
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RELATED WORDS

push, lock, bar, seal, draw, secure, fasten, fold, slam, enclose, imprison, exclude, confine, cage

Origin of shut

before 1000; Middle English s(c)hutten, s(c)hetten, s(c)hitten Old English scyttan “to bolt (a door)”; akin to shoot1
Related formshalf-shut, adjectivere·shut, verb, re·shut, re·shut·ting.un·shut, adjective

Synonyms for shut

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR shut ON THESAURUS.COM
4. jail, imprison, cage. 5. prohibit.

Synonym study

1. See close.

Antonyms for shut

1. open.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for shut

Contemporary Examples of shut

Historical Examples of shut

  • What is the use of a beautiful face, if one must be shut up in her own apartment for ever?

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • It's a pity you ain't got some one to shut down on you that way.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Harriet had not "gone into her closet and shut the door" for nothing.

  • If criticism of this kind is prohibited the doors of the House might as well be shut.

    The Grand Old Man

    Richard B. Cook

  • I must make it clear to myself that He does not shut me out of His heart because I am guilty of sins.

British Dictionary definitions for shut

shut

verb shuts, shutting or shut

to move (something) so as to cover an aperture; closeto shut a door
to close (something) by bringing together the partsto shut a book
(tr often foll by up) to close or lock the doors ofto shut up a house
(tr; foll by in, out, etc) to confine, enclose, or excludeto shut a child in a room
(tr) to prevent (a business, etc) from operating
shut one's eyes to to ignore deliberately
shut the door on
  1. to refuse to think about
  2. to render impossible

adjective

closed or fastened

noun

the act or time of shutting
the line along which pieces of metal are welded
get shut of or get shot of slang to get rid of
See also shutdown, shut-off, shutout, shut up

Word Origin for shut

Old English scyttan; related to Old Frisian sketta to shut in, Middle Dutch schutten to obstruct
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for shut
v.

Old English scyttan "to put (a bolt) in place so as to fasten a door or gate, bolt, shut to; discharge, pay off," from West Germanic *skutjan (cf. Old Frisian schetta, Middle Dutch schutten "to shut, shut up, obstruct"), from PIE *skeud- "to shoot, chase, throw" (see shoot (v.)). Related: Shutting.

Meaning "to close by folding or bringing together" is from mid-14c. Meaning "prevent ingress and egress" is from mid-14c. Sense of "to set (someone) free (from)" (c.1500) is obsolete except in dialectal phrases such as to get shut of. To shut (one's) mouth "desist from speaking" is recorded from mid-14c.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with shut

shut

In addition to the idioms beginning with shut

  • shut down
  • shut off
  • shut one's eyes to
  • shut out
  • shut the door
  • shut up

also see:

  • close (shut) down
  • close (shut) one's eyes to
  • close (shut) the door on
  • keep one's mouth shut
  • open and shut case
  • put up or shut up
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.